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Daniel 8:1–27) “From Fame to Shame” (Daniel 8:1–27) This past Sunday, I preached two sermons, stayed at church until 2:00, played with my kids in the afternoon, lifted weights in the evening, and concluded my night by watching a movie with my wife. I felt strong, vibrant, and nearly invincible. However, Monday morning I woke up with an awful cold. My eyes were running, my nose was sprinting, and my head was pounding. Perhaps you’ve been there? All I wanted to do was sleep. I went from having vim, vigor, and vitality to having am empty tank. I was not the same person I was the day before. This was a classic case of, “It’s Sunday, but Monday’s coming!” I was reminded, yet again, of how very fragile my physical body is. Similarly, nations are far more fragile than we think. They rise, they fall. They are here today, gone tomorrow. To put it bluntly: Every dog has its day . Truly, as great as earthly empires and kingdoms are, they are all small time in God’s grand scheme. They are all little more than dogs—mere pawns in His hands. While every dog has its day , in the end God reigns supreme. Previously, in Dan 7 we learned a great deal about four specific kingdoms. The bulk of the attention was given to the fourth kingdom (Rome). The prophecy in Dan 8 now provides more information about the second and third kingdoms. 1 Perhaps you’re wondering if this is really necessary. Maybe you met your history quota in Dan 7. I can appreciate this. However, we need to remember that history is His story . When we see things predicted in the Bible that have already come true, it gives us great assurance that those things yet to happen will also come true. God chose to devote a special chapter in His book to the details about the Medes, Persians, and Greeks because these nations were vital to the history of Israel and the life of the Jews. God is going to uniquely show how He will deal with His people. 2 Act 1: Daniel receives a vision (8:1–14). 3 Our account begins in 8:1 with these words: “In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously.”4 This vision occurs two years after Daniel’s dream in Dan 7. This is a case of déjà vu. Daniel is in his mid sixties, and he’s still dreaming dreams. In 8:2 he writes, “I looked in the vision, and while I was looking I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal.” Susa stood about 200 miles east of Babylon. 5 It’s unlikely that Daniel left Babylon and traveled to Susa to receive the vision. Most likely Daniel envisioned himself to be in Susa or was physically transported there by God.6 The vision that Daniel receives seems rather bizarre. 7 It consists of a two horned ram, a one horned goat, and a small horn that grew. What are to make of this? Fortunately, the vision is interpreted by the angel Gabriel in 8:15–26. However, for now, it’s important to note that “horns” are used to represent kings and their kingdoms. The horns of an animal were seen as its strength and its glory. Thus, horns came to communicate the concepts of power, authority, and honor. 8 The first vision in 8:3–4 of a two horned ram represents the Medo-Persian kingdom. 9 Daniel writes, “Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself .” Interestingly, in the Bible, the ram is a symbol of oppressive rulers. 10 The one horn that is longer than the other is a possible allusion to Persia being more powerful than Media. Soon we don’t hear any more about the Medes, for the Persians assimilated the whole Median kingdom, just as prophecy says. Cyrus the Persian and his son, Cambesis II, built the largest empire the world had ever seen to that day. It moved in every direction, and no other kingdom could stand before them. History tells us that this conquering ram, Medo-Persia, would dominate the world for about two hundred years. Indeed, every dog has its day . But the Medo-Persian kingdom made the mistake of magnifying and glorifying itself. This is a grave danger! There is nothing inherently wrong about doing great things, but our aim must be to please and glorify God. The second vision in 8:5–8 of a one horned goat represents the kingdom of Greece (cf. 8:21–26). 11 The Grecian Empire followed that of the Medo-Persians. Intriguingly, the first Greek colony was established by an oracle that sent a goat for a guide to build a city. The goat came to the region of Greece, and in gratitude for the goat’s leading them in the right direction, they called the city Agae, meaning “The Goat City.” The name of the sea upon whose shores the city was built was called the Aegean Sea, or the “Goat Sea.” 12 Amazing, huh? God gave this vision to Daniel two hundred years prior to the event taking place. In 8:5–8, God makes five prophecies that were fulfilled in history down to the minutest detail. First, the goat, the Greek Empire, set world records for bringing the known world under its dominion. In 8:5a, Daniel writes, “While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground.” History tells us that Greece built a kingdom like no other kingdom before it. In twelve brief years, the Greeks conquered the entire civilized world without losing a battle. Greece became the dominant force in the world faster than any other kingdom before it, and God had said that was how it was going to happen some two hundred years before. The second amazing prophecy has to do with the reputation of the king. He is called “a conspicuous horn.” In 8:5b–6 Daniel writes, “. and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath.” This is a reference to Alexander the Great. When Alexander was growing up, his mother taught him that he was the descendant of Achilles and Hercules. No wonder the kid was motivated. When he was just a little boy there was a horse that everyone in his family had tried to break, but no one could do it. Alexander said, “I’ll do it!” And he did. According to historians, that was the horse that he rode in all of the great campaigns as he led the Greeks in their conquest of the world. His father, Philip of Macedon, was a great military man, and we are told that Alexander used to spend most of his time worrying that there wouldn’t be anything left for him to conquer because his father was such a great military leader. After a particularly significant victory by Philip, he pulled his son aside and said, “Alexander, my son, seek out a kingdom worthy of yourself. Macedonia is too small for you.” What an encouraging dad! He was saying, “Son, you’re greater than I am. Go for something big!” And Alexander thought, “I’ll go for the world.” I wonder how much of his success was built into him because of the faith his parents had in him. Philip of Macedon certainly wasn’t a Christian, but he knew how to inspire his son. 13 Do we? Kids need to know we believe that they can do great things, better than we ever did or hoped to do. As parents is our goal, “transferring truth to the next generation”? The third prophecy has to do with the ruin of the Medo-Persian Empire. In 8:7 Daniel writes, “I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.” When Alexander decided to take the Medes and the Persians down, he came with thirty–five thousand troops and obliterated the Persian army. The Greeks deeply resented the Persians for their invasion of Greece in the days of the Persian King Xerxes, and Alexander saw his role as avenging that invasion. This, in part, explains why the goat “rushed at him in his mighty wrath” (8:6b) and why he “was enraged at him” (8:7a). Retaliation against Xerxes’ actions was the reason why Alexander plundered, vandalized, burned, and massacred the Persian people. Even when Dairus III of Persia sought to make peace with Greece, Alexander staunchly refused.
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